Jim Poissant was born and raised in central Minnesota and as a child had dreams of becoming a veterinarian. In addition to several springer spaniels and countless cats, he bred and raised ferrets to help fund his inexhaustable love of science books. In tenth grade, he was given an opportunity to spend a day at his veterinary office and see what the job was all about. He was allowed to observe a surgery and bravely passed out as the first incision was made. After recovering, he heroically vomited while helping to clean a cat with fecal mats under her tail. Perhaps veterinary medicine was not in his future, after all.

Jim attended St. John’s University on a National Merit Scholarship. His career plan at that time was to become an English Professor and so, upon graduating with a B.A. in English and double minor in Medieval Literature and Middle English, he quickly learned the real world value of speaking, reading and writing a dead language in our technology driven economy.

He began an entry level career with US Foods, drafting training and development manuals. He returned to school twice while with US Foods; once for Human Resource certification and again for a degree in Computer Science. During his eleven years with the company, he worked at the executive level in several departments; Human Resources, Finance, Sales & Marketing, Information Technology and was ultimately named head of a newly created department responsible for developing the company’s web presence, e-ordering division and managing the Y2K transition. After years of extensive travel, late nights and early meetings, Jim realized his career was not making him happy. His passion for animals was unchanged and he determined to make the veterinary industry part of his life.

He accepted a position as Hospital Administrator with a large veterinary hospital and began to research the industry from an outside perspective, armed with a thorough understanding of corporate business structure, policy and procedures.

Jim launched Veterinary Management Services in 2003 and began bringing his unique perspectives and insights to privately owned practices that lacked the tools, experience and training to compete with corporate practices.

VMS exists for one purpose: to take away the stress of day-to-day management headaches and help veterinary owners to put down the pen and pick up the scalpel. Without these distractions, private clinic owners can focus on the thing they do better than any corporate clinic ever could: developing personal relationships with their clients and practicing great medicine with compassion and care.

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